WTB Back up scooter

[Kelly Jessop]

Not to be argumentative with you, but once is not enough to establish a pattern, As long as I only have one scooter, I won't allow myself to get into a position to where loss of it would be anything more than an annoyance, probably be that way with two of them too.
Anything man made can fail, can in fact be counted on to fail eventually, even SLA battery scooters as there is more to a scooter than a battery, the reed switch and or the motor could fail, actually with a brushed motor all it would take would be for a brush to stick, shoot even the prop could fall off. I'm pretty sure my failure wasn't actually the battery, but an electronic failure, but that has not been absolutely established, yet. I carry a spare mask, and a bunch of lights and a complete separate source of breathing gas, why not a spare scooter?
I'm not smart enough to calculate it, but it, but if one assumes scooter failure to be a 1 in a 100 event, the odds of having both scooters fail on one dive is calculable. Is that a word? Then determine just how much of the dive would be at risk if the scooter failed anyway. BTW, when mine failed, even if I had been by myself and had lost 1/2 of my remaining gas, I would have made it out.
Point is I guess, I'm not willing to get into the water with 200 lbs of scooters in the hope that their big old batteries increase the level of safety.
SLAB batteries in scooters have gone the way of point and condensers in automotive ignition systems I believe.
Doesn't mean that they don't work though

Apologies,this went off thread and it is my fault. A seperate thread to discuss the merit of certain battery technology,and incidents would reside on its own well and not hijack your thread. Your original desire to find a scooter for back up has good safety concern,and you might find what you want in an 18 amp/hr scooter. Makos/DV100s have lost their desirability to the Gavins and SS,but when I had one it served well with no failure as long as you don't take it too deep. They trimmed and towed well,and the best part is you could probably find one in the $700 range. Good luck.

[a64pilot]

Good Lord no apologies please, I don't mind the thread "drift" at all, a lot of times I learn more when these thread drift, and I have a lot to learn.
Of course if anybody has a scooter to sell, please interrupt
I think your earlier comparison to rebreathers was pretty good, RB's if some of the electronics go out, can usually be "flown" manually, and if that goes TU, then there is bailout.
Maybe these new scooters should have a manual "lockout" of the electronics so that they could be "flown" manually, and then if that too goes TU, bailout to the back up scoot? I wonder how hard it would be to have a separate switch to bypass the speed controllers and if that's not possible, why not a parallel set of electronics, like having two Hammerheads?

[Meister481]

I have a used N-19 for sale with about 40 hours on it. Asking 2900 but Make me a reasonable offer. I'll be in your neck of the woods in not too long for a track day.

[PfcAJ]

Suex XK scooters have a bypass switch that skips the electronic speed control and trigger.

[H2Ocaver]

Apologies,this went off thread and it is my fault. A seperate thread to discuss the merit of certain battery technology,and incidents would reside on its own well and not hijack your thread. Your original desire to find a scooter for back up has good safety concern,and you might find what you want in an 18 amp/hr scooter. Makos/DV100s have lost their desirability to the Gavins and SS,but when I had one it served well with no failure as long as you don't take it too deep. They trimmed and towed well,and the best part is you could probably find one in the $700 range. Good luck.

The Makos in my link need to go, make an offer, thanks

http://www.ezscuba.com/mako_scooters.htm

[willylump]

Haven't waded through all 4+ pages of replies to your inquiry, so I hope I'm not repeating info previously stated. I also went to a "mini" scooter (Gavin) as a tow-behind backup. After using for only a few extended dives, I will be obtaining another full-size (my preference is Gavin) as a back-up. The mini has a tendency to sink in fresh water when you stop moving as they are weighted to be neutral in salt water. The full size Gavin tows pefertly and when trimmed properly is always directly behind you where it is suppose to be.

[a64pilot]

I'm going with a small scoot, even if I have to tie a float to the thing. I understand perfectly about having a heavy scooter behind you, My Magnus was heavy to begin with and I have to remove some of the nose ballast. It was obnoxious during training swimming with it behind me and sinking, slightly positive, and you don't even know it's there.
If your looking for a full size Gavin, I think this deal would be hard to beat. http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showt...26-18-in-Tampa

[jj1987]

I paid $700 for my last Gavin (PVC), but 1700 for a hdpe backend is a steal

[kensuf]

Urban renewal

Living in Alachua County, I'd tend to agree with you.

[LiteHedded]

wait a while and it'll be an even bigger steal